It is Amazing How Local Personal Finance Can Be

It is Amazing How Local Personal Finance Can Be

Most people discuss personal finance rules in absolute terms. I hate it! I truly believe there are almost NO SET PERSONAL FINANCE RULES. Rather, personal finances are well just that…personal and as I was reminded the other day local. When I read posts about other personal finance bloggers and their housing expenses I become jealous (read: angry). Well today I got a reminder that how local personal finance is and that it is all relevant. I live and grew up in one of the most expensive parts of the country (Long Island), but was shocked talking to a buddy today who is moving to New York City next month.

When he told me his rent I wasn’t flabbergasted since I have had a bunch of friends who have lived in the city at one point, but I certainly had a “what the F” moment. Yes, I put flabbergasted below what the f. I just couldn’t resist the opportunity to figure out how much of my monthly nut is encompassed by just his rent. He didn’t mind too much since I have known him since we were twelve and he is moving to “the city” under the best of conditions.

Before looking at my particular example I think some perspective is needed. In 2009 (post crash) the mean single family house where I grew up was over $680,000 while the mean of my new town was $575,000 in 2009. Mean is probably a terrible way to describe the housing costs, but it is the data I have to go off from City Data.

With that in mind lets look at my information:

My Original Note was for $388,000 (put 20% down on a $485K home).

30 Year Fixed

3.375%

Taxes are about $11,000

No Idea about Homeowner’s insurance cost but they are factored in

My Payment all in is just shy of $3,000.

His rent was more. The Wife’s leased minivan (man, do I hate that thing) is $369/mo. His rent is still more. I pay about $130 for my triple play package…now we are getting closer.

Does Any of this Matter?

Nope! But I was reminded of a very valuable lesson that I have seem to have forgotten over the years. Beyond the basics about credit card debt personal finances are very personal and thus very local. For instance, someone borrowing money to buy a pick up truck would make zero sense to me unless that person was a contractor, however, there were about 200,000 of them sold in July 2013 apparently the rest of the Country feels differently! Similarly, someone’s housing and food costs matter a lot where they live.

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Evan is the owner of My Journey to Millions which was started to track his journey from a broke debt ridden law school graduate to building a positive balance. Need more Evan? Follow him on Twitter, Contact him or get new posts directly to your email

21 Comments

I think a lot of people forget the “personal” part of personal finance, yes. Although I do think there are some things that are fairly universal, the details should be tweaked to suit individual situations. For example, your $3k mortgage? That’s pretty much my entire monthly budget, less my discretionary personal stuff that I could eliminate if I needed to. The idea of spending $3k on the house alone makes me want to throw up!

Since places like New York City and San Francisco have higher wages, you should look at the percentage of income spent on housing? It would be far less dramatic as a percentage. I think it equalizes the country much more where income and expenses are so different.

@krantcents, you are somewhat correct. I live in the Bay Area and make a good wage that makes it affordable. Many businesses do pay more in high cost of living areas to retain their talent. Then again, there are people working for my company in other parts of the country with much lower COL who are paid the same salary as me. Go figure. I would still rather live here and I guess I am paying for that.

It is all relative to a point…I can’t believe the cost of certain items in the city though. Go pick up a 6 pack at the local bodega and it is like the equivalent of picking up an 18 pack on the island.

I get the high cost of rent here in the city, but I also know first hand that $4,000 rent is not all there is in NYC. I live in a two bedroom in Brooklyn, no more than a 18 minute subway ride to Manhattan and I pay $1,350 for a small two bedroom. I understand folks needs and/or desires to live expensively but even my brother’s 1.5 bedroom place in Midtown Manhattan is under $2,500 a month, and he’s got around 700 sq feet. But then, he doesn’t have a door man and it is a 5 story walk up.

That’s a huge help. I wish my excellent son would find The Mother of My Grandchildren! With a partner, he could easily pick up the whole tab on the house we copurchased before I got laid off the job…then he could own the whole money pit, instead of just part of it. 😀

It definitely is local. I can own a very nice home where I live for less than most families spend at the grocery store each month. Your down payment would buy a nice home here outright – all cash.

It blows my mind how real estate prices vary across the country. I understand differences between places, but if you can earn big city money in small town America, there’s some serious advantages to a low COL area.

I’m a little late to the game here, but it seems to me that ratios should come into play. The absolute numbers of rent shouldn’t matter as much as rent-to-income ratio. If the friend has a sweet Wall Street job that is going to make him 300K a year (or more), the high price of his rent doesn’t really matter.

I think we can use the ratios to make local pricing make sense nationwide.

My Journey to Millions

My Journey to Millions is an 8 year old personal finance blog focused on topics including basic personal finance issues, advanced insurance planning, high net worth estate planning. In addition, there is a particular focus on dividend growth investing and option trading.